By Jim Dower: Roy Jones Jr. (66-9, 47 KOs) ended his 29-year boxing career in style on Thursday night in defeating the capable Scott Sigmon (30-12-1, 16 KOs) by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision to win the vacant World Boxing Union cruiserweight title at the Bay Center in Pensacola, Florida.
The judges’ scores were 98-92, 98-92 and 98-92. Boxing News 24 scored it 100-90. There weren’t 2 rounds to give the 30-year-old Sigmon in the fight unless you bent over backwards to count his shoeshine efforts I rounds 4 and 8 as being enough to win those rounds. Jones Jr. was in fine form in landing uppercuts, hooks and showing good speed for a fighter about to turn 50.
In round 1, Jones landed some triple hooks to the head of Sigmon. Those same punches used to be blinding fast by Jones when he was younger. Tonight, you could see the shots at least. They were still fast, but nearly as quick as they were when Jones was younger. Near the end of the round, Jones landed nice body shots that got Sigmon’s attention. The shots had power and were placed perfectly. Credit goes to Sigmon for taking the blows without going down like Virgil Hill did back in April 1998 when Jones stopped him in round 4.
In rounds 2 and 3, Jones was fighting his hands down by his sides, trying to get Sigmon to come forward and initiate so he could catch him with hooks and uppercuts. Jones connected with a big left hook in round 3 that seemed to hurt Sigmon in the final seconds of the round.
There was no quit in Sigmon. Even though he was being clowned and worked over by Jones, he wasn’t going to quit. Sigmon stayed in and took a beating for 10 rounds. You’ve got to respect him for that, because he could have pulled out of the fight to escape the humiliation and punishment.
In the 5th round, nailed Sigmon with an uppercut that knocked his mouthpiece out. Jones looked like he wanted to get the fight over with, but he didn’t have quite enough punching power to hurt Sigmon in a major way. Jones’ shots were more stinging blows than anything. Sigmon came into the fight with a reputation for having a good chin. He lasted 7 rounds with former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, which tells you something about his punch resistance. Jones moved a lot with his upper body to avoid Sigmon’s shots in the round. A lot of it was exaggerated stuff from Jones with him trying to look good for his boxing fans.
In the 6th, Sigmon was letting his hands go with weak combinations that Jones easily blocked. If you were to give a round to Sigmon in the fight, it would be the 6th. He threw a lot of punches and he was trying very hard to do some damage. Jones did a good job of countering Sigmon in the round with his own shots. It’s a good thing for Jones that Sigmon isn’t a good puncher, because he probably would have knocked him out in this round.
Jones was showing boating a lot in the fight. Sigmon was so over-matched that Jones was able to clown around with him in front of his hometown boxing fans. It would have been nice if Jones had picked an opponent could enough to force him to be serious.
Jones’ physique looked like an elderly person in his 50s. Jones still showed good hand speed, but his body looked like an older person. Jones couldn’t hide his age.
The victory for Jones means he now has captured titles at 160, 168, 175, 200 and heavyweight. You can argue that the WBU cruiserweight belt Jones Jr. won on Thursday night wasn’t a world level belt. The WBU belt is a title. You must count it, even though it’s not one the more recognized sanctioning bodies.
After tonight’s contest was over, Jones said he’d fought with a biceps injury. He didn’t show it during the fight. If Jones was in his 20s or early 30s, he would have made easy work of Sigmon with a fast knockout. The fact that Jones had to go the full 10 rounds to beat Sigmon shows how far over-the-hill he is at 49.
Jones said that he wants to fight 42-year-old former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Presumably that would be a boxing match and not an MMA fight for Jones. Silva would destroy Jones in an MMA fight. Silva has lost 4 out of his last 6 fights in the UFC with 1 of his fights being a no contest due to him testing positive for banned drugs. Silva might be too over-the-hill in the UFC for the MMA and boxing fans to take much interest in a fight between Jones and him.
One thing you must hope about Jones’ win tonight over the journeyman Sigmon is that it doesn’t plant ideas into his head. Jones might get excited about how easy it was for him to win this fight, and he may figure that he can continue his boxing career for a little while longer. Jones needs to retire, because he’s about to turn 50 and he’s fighting nothing but dreadful opposition at this point in his career.